Posts Tagged ‘National Park Service’

The programs are on Thursday mornings, but not every Thursday through August and Fridays in the fall—please check the Crater Lake National Park bird banding visit flyer below for scheduled dates and information on how to register for these special events . Don’t miss this opportunity to visit KBO’s biologists in the field, see the birds they are studying up close, guided by an expert Park Ranger!

Crater Lake National Park and Klamath Bird Observatory are again presenting a bird ecology program series this summer and into the fall. The popular Park Ranger-led programs feature a visit to KBO’s bird monitoring station within Crater Lake National Park, bringing park visitors, park birds, and researchers all together.

KBO is also offering public visits to another of our bird monitoring stations located at our Upper Klamath Field Station near Fort Klamath by arrangement. Email Bob Frey for more information.

Come join us at the 20th Annual Klamath Falls World Migratory Bird Day Celebration at Veteran’s Park this Saturday May 18th! Several expert led birdwatching walks through the park will visit KBO’s bird banding demonstration throughout the festival. Biologists will share the captured wild birds up close before their release—a close-up experience of bird migration passing through the Klamath Basin.

The 2019 World Migratory Bird Day theme is “Protect Birds: Be the Solution to Plastic Pollution! Come and learn about bird migration and the problems they face from our plastic pollution. Each year, the World Migratory Bird Day advisory committee selects an artist to illustrate the annual conservation theme. Arnaldo Toledo Sotolongo, from Santa Clara, Cuba was selected to create the World Migratory Bird Day 2019 artwork—in which he displays a passionate and beautiful, though painfully tragic, poster illustration.

This local celebration of World Migratory Bird Day is sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in partnership with Klamath Watershed Partnership, Klamath Basin Audubon Society, Klamath Wing Watchers, U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, the City of Klamath Falls, and many other valuable partners. Now in its 29th year, World Migratory Bird Day has grown from a one-day event into a framework underpinning hundreds of projects and programs year-round. It is coordinated by Environment for the Americas, which provides bilingual educational materials and information about birds and bird conservation throughout the Americas. Their programs inspire children and adults to get outdoors, learn about birds, and take part in their conservation.

Crater Lake National Park and Klamath Bird Observatory will present a bird ecology program series this summer and into the fall. These park ranger-led programs will feature a visit to KBO’s bird monitoring station within Crater Lake National Park.

People spend a lot of time watching birds, and scientists are no exception. Because birds use such a wide variety of resources and respond quickly to environmental change, they are gold mines of information. Even better, most species are easy to find, especially in the spring when they are singing! Scientists from Klamath Bird Observatory, the Klamath Inventory & Monitoring (I&M) Network and others used a wealth of bird data from the Klamath Ecoregion to understand how birds naturally group themselves across the landscape. Their results were just published in PLOS ONE, “Bird Communities and Environmental Correlates in southern Oregon and northern California, USA.”

Oak woodlands are under-protected in the Klamath-Siskiyou Bioregion, according to this study. Increasing the size of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument protects more oak woodlands, meeting a priority bird conservation objective. (Photo Credit Frank Lospalluto)

Ashland, OR – New study demonstrates an improved approach to ensure protected areas enhance and conserve biodiversity. The results of the study were used to inform expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument.

A team of researchers from the Klamath Bird Observatory, Point Blue Conservation Science, and other partner organizations used big data and fine-scaled modeling to 1) evaluate an existing network of protected areas in the Klamath Siskiyou Bioregion of southern Oregon and northern California, and 2) to identify and prioritize new areas for protection. The study used birds as indicators of important habitats and biodiversity.

The researchers found that the region’s protected areas, including seven National Parks and Monuments, were protecting coniferous forest habitat. However, adequate amounts of grassland and oak woodland habitats were not being protected. Birds that are associated with these under-protected habitats have been identified as at-risk at both national and regional scales and the conservation of grasslands and oak woodlands has become a priority.

This study showed that grassland habitats, where Oregon Vesper Sparrows occur, were under-protected in the Klamath-Siskiyou Bioregion; the science-based expansion of the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument increased the amount of habitats protected within the Klamath Siskiyou Bioregion’s network of protected areas, benefiting this at-risk species (Photo Credit James Livaudais)

Results from the study identified some protected areas where grassland and oak woodland birds did occur, as well as additional areas that, if protected, would increase the amount of priority birds protected by the region’s Parks and Monuments. Specifically, these priority habitats occur within the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument and on adjacent multiple-use lands. This scientific insight informed science-driven recommendations to expand the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. With support from Oregon’s US Senators Wyden and Merkley, President Obama signed an executive order on January 12, 2017 increasing the size of Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument by more than 45,000 acres resulting in more protection for grassland and oak woodland birds.

“This study offers robust scientific evidence that expanding the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument provides critical protection to an amazing ecosystem found nowhere else in the world, and will serve Oregonians well for decades to come,” said Oregon’s Senator Jeff Merkley. “National monuments are American treasures that belong to the people.”

This study and its application offer an improved science-based approach to evaluating protected areas and identifying and prioritizing new areas for protection. The results were published today by the Ecological Society of America in a special feature of the journal Ecosphere, Science For Our National Parks’ Second Century. The special feature highlights the crucial value of long-term monitoring and scientific inquiry and the role of science in informing natural resource management and conservation on public lands. This research was completed with support from the National Park Service, Bureau of Land Management, and US Forest Service and contributes to the Partners in Flight bird conservation initiative. A gigantic amount of data used for this research was made available through the Avian Knowledge Network. The paper can be accessed online at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ecs2.1799/full.

Klamath Bird Observatory advances bird and habitat conservation through science, education, and partnerships. We work in the Pacific Northwest and throughout the migratory ranges of the birds of our region. We developed our award-winning conservation model in the ruggedly beautiful and wildlife-rich Klamath-Siskiyou Bioregion of southern Oregon and northern California. Emphasizing high caliber science and the role of birds as indicators of the health of the land, we specialize in cost-effective bird monitoring and research projects that improve natural resource management. Also, recognizing that conservation occurs across many fronts, we nurture a conservation ethic in our communities through our outreach and educational programs. Visit Klamath Bird Observatory at www.KlamathBird.org.

About Point Blue Conservation Science:

At Point Blue Conservation Science (Point Blue), our 140 staff and seasonal scientists conserve nature through science, partnerships and outreach, on land and at sea. Using our long-term data, we identify and evaluate both natural and human-driven change over time. We work hand-in-hand with governmental and non-governmental agencies as well as private interests to help ensure that every dollar invested in conservation yields the most for biodiversity and our communities. Visit Point Blue at www.PointBlue.org.

Patterns of plant, amphibian, mammal, and bird distribution have been used to identify ecological boundaries in the Klamath Region of southern Oregon and northern California, one of the most biophysically complex areas in North America. These patterns are described in a paper, recently published in the Natural Areas Journal, written by collaborators from the National Park Service, US Geological Survey, Klamath Bird Observatory, and other organizations. “This paper represents our first collaborative effort to link biogeography with protected areas management in the Klamath Region,” says the papers lead author, Daniel Sarr (formerly with the National Park Service and now working with the US Geological Survey). John Alexander, Klamath Bird Observatory’s Executive Director and a co-author on the paper added, “In the Klamath Region, natural resource managers are challenged with managing the complex array of environments that characterize the area. In this paper, we describe patterns that help delineate meaningful ecological units, or Management Domains, that are intended to advance collaborative natural resource management in the Region.”

The distributions of species described in the paper illustrate conceptual and spatial domains for natural areas management that provide an eco-regional framework for collaborative conservation. The paper describes a Maritime Management Domain in the western portion of the Region that is similar to other coastal areas. To the east, a Great Basin Domain that is similar to other Great Basin environments is also described. While conservation management approaches that have been tested in other areas of the west coast and Great Basin may be effectively applied in these two Domains, a third Eastern Klamath Management Domain, at the core of the Klamath Region, is more unique and presents novel management challenges. This third Domain has higher species richness and endemism than other environments in the western United States that are climatically similar, such as the southwest. Because the area is so unique, management approaches that have been successful in other areas may not be as easily applied in the Eastern Klamath Management Domain. Lead author Daniel Sarr explains further, “Because of its exceptional spatial complexity, it has not always been clear how management concepts and approaches developed in other areas of the West can best be used in the Klamath Region.”
However, the species that characterize the Eastern Klamath Domain may be the key to the conservation and management of natural areas in the Klamath Region. The Klamath Region will likely serve as an important refugia for a number of at-risk species that may become more threatened by climate change. Therefore management intended to help the Region’s unique array of native species persist into an uncertain future is becoming a priority. This paper presents an improved understanding of how such species are distributed across the region which, in combination with knowledge about the species’ habitat needs, can help inform design of the novel management approaches that may be needed in the Klamath Region.

Dr. Sarr concluded the following about these research results, “This new paper represents ongoing efforts to identify spatially explicit management domains and serves as a step forward. The work will undoubtedly be refined through ongoing observational science efforts being conducted by the Klamath Bird Observatory, National Park Service, and other regional partners.”

Klamath Bird Observatory, based in Ashland, Oregon, advances bird and habitat conservation through science, education, and partnerships. Klamath Bird Observatory is fueled by partner-driven science programs. We use birds as indicators of the healthy and resilient ecosystems on which we all depend. Our science involves three integrated aspects: 1) long-term monitoring, 2) theoretical research, and 3) applied ecology. We bring our results to bear through science delivery involving partnership driven engagement in conservation planning, informing the critical decisions being made today that will have lasting influences on the health of our natural resources well into the future.

Klamath Bird Observatory’s award-winning model was developed in the ruggedly beautiful and wildlife-rich Klamath-Siskiyou Bioregion. We now apply this model more broadly throughout the Pacific Northwest. Plus, our intensive professional education and international capacity building programs expand our influence into Mexico, Central and South America, and the Caribbean.